The phone survey of nearly 1,200 adults in the U.S. found 52 percent hadn’t even heard of Windows 8 leading up to Friday’s release of the redesigned software.Among the people who knew something about the new operating system, 61 percent had little or no interest in buying a new laptop or desktop computer running on Windows 8, according to the poll. And only about a third of people who’ve heard about the new system believe it will be an improvement (35 percent).

So most people have never heard of it and the ones that did don’t want it. This is a firecracker release for sure.

http://twitter.com/djbressler David Bressler

I think the implications of lackluster Windows 8 adoption will be “landscape changing” for the PC world, the divergence of PC and tablet computing, and the “shift to Macs” (among people who can choose the computer they get to use).

MacsenMcBain

Sounds like the post-PC era just arrived.

Zeatrix

Is there a poll done for iOS or OS X? I’m sure the numbers would be similiar given that a vast majority of people have no clue/don’t care about their operating system.

http://twitter.com/scatteredthings Sam

Think you need to work on your interpretation. Half (not a majority) hadn’t heard of it (unless you really think a difference of 2% can be called statistically significant), and of those who had, 61% had little or no interest in BUYING NEW HARDWARE (your quote doesn’t comment on upgrading old hardware). I’m not saying Windows 8 is a hit, but don’t let your dislike of it cause you to compromise your usually smart analysis.